THE CORPORATION OF THETOWNSHIP OF GEORGIAN BAY

BY-LAW NO. 2014-72

A By-law to prohibit and regulate the placing ordumping or removal of ?ll in areas of theTownship of Georgian Bay

This By-law applies only to shoreline areas and to land zonedEnvironmental Protection (EP) and Open Space (OS).

The primary intent of this By-law is to protect and preserve waterquality by prohibiting the placing or removal of fill in shoreline areasand lands zoned Environmental Protection (EP) and Open Space (OS).Lands zoned Environmental Protection (EP) are significant contributorsto water quality as they are commonly comprised of wetlands.Wetlands are nature's water filters due to their ability to removeharmful impurities from water before it enters the main body of awatershed. Further, wetlands are the breeding ground and home formany species of plants, fish, insects, animals, birds and wildlife.

This By-law recognizes that property owners have the right to engagein normal landscaping activities on their waterfront property. However,this By-law prohibits any landscaping work that could significantly alterthe grade or topography in a manner that increases the flow of surfacewater to neighbouring lands or the adjacent waterbody.

There are no licenses, permits or fees required with this By-law.Council may grant exceptions from this By-law.

WHEREAS Section 142 of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, asamended, authorize a local municipality to pass a By-law to prohibit orregulate the placing or dumping of fill, the removal of topsoil, and thealteration of the grade of any property in any defined area or areas inthe Township of Georgian Bay;

AND WHEREAS an Order to discontinue activity and work orders areauthorized under Section 444 and 445 of the Municipal Act S.O. 2001,c.2S where a contravention of this bylaw has occurred;

AND WHEREAS the Council of the Corporation of the Township ofGeorgian Bay deems it appropriate and desirable in the public interestto enact such a By-law for the purposes of:

- Implementing the District Municipality of Muskoka Lake SystemHealth Program by preventing erosion and sedimentation of thelakes in the Township;

o Preventing the extensive topographical changes to the propertiesin the shoreline areas of the Township;

- Protecting and preserving the environmentally protected areas ofthe Township; and,

- Ensuring a healthy and sustainable ecosystem and naturalenvironment.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT ENACTED by Council of the Corporation of theTownship of Georgian Bay as follows:

1. DEFINITIONS

In this By-law:

(a)

(b)

(C)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(9)

(h)

“Alteration” or “Site Alteration” means a change in elevationfrom Existing Grade or Finished Grade resulting from:

(i) The Placing or Dumping of fill;(ii) The Removal of topsoil;(iii) Placing, Dumping, Removal, or Blasting of Rock;

or,(iv) Any other action that alters the Grade of land

including the Altering in any way of a NaturalDrainage Course on a Site

“Alter”, “Altered” and “Altering” shall have a correspondingmeaning.

“Building Permit” means a Building Permit issued under theOntario Building Code Act, 1992, S.O. 1992, c. 23, asamended;

“Clerk” means the Clerk or designate for the Corporation ofthe Township of Georgian Bay;

“Council" means the CouncilTownship of Georgian Bay;

of the Corporation of the

“Director” means the Director of Development Services,Manager of Planning or the Senior Planner for the Township ofGeorgian Bay or his or her designate provided such designateis an Inspector appointed under this By—law;

“Drainage” means the movement of water to a place ofdisposal, whether by way of the natural characteristics of theground surface or by artificial means;

“Dumping” and “Dump” means the depositing of Fill in alocation other than where the Fill was obtained or themovement and depositing of Fill from one location on aproperty to another location;

“Fill” means any type of material capable of being removedfrom or deposited on lands, including, but not limited to: soil,stone, sod, turf, concrete, wood, stumps, rock, asphalt,granular material, either singularly or in combination;

“Grade” means the elevation of the ground surface and shallbe more particularly de?ned as follows:

(D

(k)

(l)

(m)

(n)

(0)

(p)

(i) “Existing Grade” means the elevation of theexisting ground surface of the lands upon whichDumping and/or Placing of Fill, Altering of theGrade, Removing of topsoil, or Blasting of Rock isproposed. Existing Grade shall mean the groundsurface of such lands as it existed prior to the saidactivity;“Finished Grade” means the approved elevation ofground surface of lands upon which Fill has beenPlaced or Dumped, the Grade Altered or topsoilRemoved, in accordance with this By—law;

(ii)

“Inspector" means the following persons who are authorizedto carry out any of the powers or duties pursuant to this By-law, for the period of their employment with the Township;

o Municipal Law Enforcement Officers

“Landscaping, Minor” means the construction of walkways,pathways, flowerbeds, and similar landscaping features wherethe landscaping does not significantly alter the topography ofthe lands and shall not increase the flow or the rate of flow ofsurface water to the adjacent lands or the adjacent lake orwater body but does not include the planting or creation oflawns;

“Natural Drainage Course” means a valley or elongateddepression created by naturally flowing water that varies insize and may be dry or contain intermittent, ephemeral orperennial running water, including a lake, river, stream,creek, spring, ravine, swamp and gulch with well-definedbanks and a bed that gives direction to a water course, butexcludes roadside ditches, Drainage ditches and irrigationworks;

“Owner” means the registered Owner(s) of the property;

“Person” means any individual, corporation, partnership,association, firm, trust or other entity and includes anyoneacting on behalf or under the authority of such entity, and thesingular shall include the plural;

“Placing” means the distribution of Fill on lands to establish aFinished Grade; “Place" and “Placed” shall have acorresponding meaning.

“Proposed Grade” means the proposed elevation of groundsurface of land upon which Fill is proposed to be Placed orDumped, the Grade Altered, topsoil or Rock Removed;

(q)

(s)

(t)

(u)

(V)

(W)

(X)

“Removing" means any type of material extracted and takenaway from lands and includes but is not limited to sand, Soil,stone, granular material, concrete, asphalt, either singularlyor in combination; “Remove”, “Removal" and “Removed” shallhave a corresponding meaning;

“Rock Blasting” means to break up or dislodge various rockmaterial, in compliance with the Township's Blasting By—law,to form or open up land through various means including, butnot limited to, explosives or hydraulics; “Blasting of Rock”shall have a corresponding meaning;

“Shoreline Area" means the area of land abutting awaterbody that is located within the front yard setback asde?ned in the Township's Zoning By—law and includes thearea of land extending to the existing level of the abuttingwaterbody;

“Site” means the area of land where Alteration will occur;

“Soil” means material commonly known as earth, topsoil,loam, subsoil, clay, sand or gravel;

“Township” and “Township of Georgian Bay” means theCorporation of the Township of Georgian Bay;

“Vegetation” means any woody plant, or contiguous cluster ofplants including, but not limited to, trees, shrubs, andhedgerows;

“Zoning By-law” means the By—lawregulating land use withinthe Township as required under the Planning Act.

2. AREA OF APPLICATION OF THE BY-LAW

2.1 This By—lawshall only apply to the following areas in theTownship;

(a) Lands within the Environmental Protection (EP) Zonein the Zoning By—law;

(b) Lands within the Open Space (OS) Zone in ZoningBy—law91-19 or lands within the Natural State Island(NSI) zone, Open Space (051) zone, or NaturalState Conservation (NSC) zone in a subsequentComprehensive Zoning By—law;

(c) Lands within the Shoreline Area.

3. PROHIBITION

3.1

3.2

3.3

No Person shall Place or Remove Fill, or cause or permitany site alteration on lands within the area defined in thisBy-law as the Shoreline Area, except as noted in Section 4Exemptions From Application of By-law.

No Person shall Place or Remove Fill, or cause or permitany site alteration on lands zoned EnvironmentalProtection (EP) under the Zoning By-law, except as notedin Section 4 Exemptions From Application of By-law.

No Person shall Place or Remove Fill, or cause or permitany site alteration on lands zoned Open Space (05) underZoning By-law 91-19 or lands within the Natural StateIsland (NSI) zone, Open Space (OS1) zone, or NaturalState Conservation (NSC) zone in a subsequentComprehensive Zoning By-law, except as noted in Section4 Exemptions From Application of By-law.

4. EXEMPTIONS FROMAPPLICATION OF BY-LAW

The provisions of this By-law do not apply to:

(3)

(b)

(C)

(d)

(6)

The Placing of Fill for the purposes of Minor Landscaping;

The maintenance or replacement of any existinglandscaping, existing driveways and existing beaches (bothnatural beaches or beaches where permits has beenobtained from the appropriate approval authority);

The Placing or Dumping of Fill, Removal of topsoil, Blastingof Rock in compliance with the Township's Blasting By-law,or Alteration of the Grade of land imposed after December31, 2002, as a condition of the approval of a site plan, aplan of subdivision or a consent under section 41, 51 or53, respectively, of the Planning Act or as requirement of asite plan agreement or subdivision agreement entered intounder those sections;

The Placing or Dumping of Fill, Removal of topsoil, Blastingof Rock in compliance with the Township's Blasting By-law,or Alteration of the Grade of land imposed after December31, 2002, as a condition to a development permitauthorized by regulations made under Section 70.2 of thePlanning Act or as a requirement of an agreement enteredinto under the regulation;

The Placing or Dumping of Fill, Removal of topsoil, Blastingof Rock, or Alteration of the Grade of land undertaken by atransmitter or distributor, as those terms are defined inSection 2 of the Electricity Act, 1998, for the purpose ofconstructing and maintaining a transmission system or a

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(f)

(9)

(h)

(i)

(1')

(k)

(|)

distribution system, as those terms are defined in thatsection;

The Placing or Dumping of Fill, Removal of topsoil, Blastingof Rock, or Alteration of the Grade of land undertaken onland described as a license for pit or quarry or a permit fora wayside pit or wayside quarry issued under theAggregate Resources Act;

The Placing or Dumping of Fill, Removal of topsoil, Blastingof Rock, or Alteration of the Grade of land undertaken onland in order to lawfully establish and operate or enlargeany pit or quarry on land;

(i) that has not been designated under theAggregate Resources Act or a predecessor of thatAct; and,

(ii) on which a pit or quarry is a permitted land useunder By—lawpassed under section 34 of thePlanning Act;

The Placing or Dumping of Fill, Removal of topsoil, Blastingof Rock, or Alteration of the Grade of land undertaken asan incidental part of drain construction under the DrainageAct or the Tile Drainage Act;

The Removal of topsoil as incidental part of normalagricultural practice including such Removal as anincidental part of sod farming, greenhouse operation andnurseries for horticultural products, but not the Removal oftopsoil for sale, exchange or other disposition;

The Placing or Dumping of Fill, Removal of topsoil, Blastingof Rock in compliance with the Township's Blasting By—lawor Alteration of Grade necessary for the installation of aseptic system approved and for which a Building Permithas been issued under the Ontario Building Code Act;

The Placing or Dumping of Fill, Removal of topsoil, Blastingof Rock in compliance with the Township's Blasting By—law,or Alteration of Grade necessary for the installation of afoundation for a building or structure approved under theOntario Building Code Act and a Building Permit has beenissued by the Township;

A waste, waste disposal site or waste management systemthat is approved pursuant to the Environmental ProtectionAct;

(m) The construction, extension, alteration, maintenance or

(n)

(0)

(p)

(Cl)

(F)

(S)

(t)

operation of works under Section 26 of the PublicTransportation and Highway Improvement Act;

The activities of the District School Boards;

The activities of Crown Agencies as de?ned in the CrownAgency Act;

The Placing or Removal of Fill within 5 metres of anybuilding or structure where a Building Permit has beenissued;

The Placing or Removal of Fill within 3 metres of anybuilding, structure or other land use permitted as anexemption to the front yard setback in the Township'sZoning By-law;

Activities authorized under a work permit issued by theMinistry of Natural Resources under the Public Lands Act orthe Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act;

Fill placed in an excavation to the elevation of the ExistingGrade at the immediate perimeter of the excavationfollowing the demolition or removal of a building orstructure;

The Placing or Dumping of Fill for the purpose of onetemporary access road no wider than 4.5 metres onproperties within the Shoreline Area that are onlyaccessible by water;

5. CONSIDERATION BY COUNCIL

5.1

6.1

If any Owner or Person wishes to apply for relief from thisBy-law, they may do so by submitting a written requestidentifying the nature and extent of relief requested andaccompanied by a site plan/diagram and a description ofthe proposed works to the Clerk. Council, in decidingwhether to grant relief, shall consider the environmentalimpact of the proposed activity and may require theapplicant to provide such additional information as itdeems necessary and, Council may impose such conditionson the relief as it deems appropriate.

INSPECTION BY AN INSPECTOR

Notwithstanding Section 435 of the Municipal Act, 2001,as amended, the Inspector for the Township, havingprobable cause to believe that a violation of this By-law isoccurring or has occurred may enter the lands at any

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8.

6.2

reasonable time for the purpose of inspecting the Site todetermine whether there is a violation or any or allportions of Section 3 of this By-law and to prevent furtherdestruction.

Any Person who obstructs an Inspector in carrying out aninspection under this By-law is guilty of an offence.

ORDERS

7.1

7.2

7.3

7.4

7.5

7.6

7.7

Where an Inspector is satis?ed that a Person hascontravened any provision of this By—|aw, the Inspectormay make an Order requiring the Person to discontinuethe activity and shall set out the particulars of thecontravention. The Order shall set out the informationcontained in Schedule ‘A’.

Where the Director is satisfied that a Person hascontravened any provisions of this By-law, the Directormay make a Repair Order requiring the Person torehabilitate the land in such a manner and within such aperiod as the Director considers appropriate.

An Order issued under this section may be servedpersonally or served by sending it by registered mail to thelast known address of:

(i) The Owner of the property at the address shown onthe municipal tax rolls; and

(ii) The Person identified as contravening this By-law.

Where service of an Order is made by mail, the Order shallbe deemed to have been served on the ?fth business dayafter the order is mailed.

Where services cannot be made under the precedingsections of this By-law, it is deemed sufficient if theInspector places a placard containing the terms of theOrder in a conspicuous place on the affected lands and theplacement of the placard shall be deemed to be sufficientservice of the Order on the Person to whom the Order isdirected.

A Person to whom an Order under this section has beendirected may request a review by Council by ?lling awritten request with the Clerk within 30 days after thedate of the Order. Council may confirm, alter or revoke theOrder.

If a Person fails to comply to an Order, the Township maycarry out the work, enter the property for that purpose andrecover the cost, with interest, all in accordance withSection 446 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended.

PENALTY

8.1

8.2

8.3

10.

10.1

10.2

10.3

11.

11.1

(8)

(b)

(a)

(b)

Any person who contravenes any provision of this By-lawis guilty of an offence and upon conviction is liable for thefollowing fines:

On a first conviction, to a minimum fine of $500 anda maximum fine of not more than $10,000; and

On any subsequent conviction, to a minimum fine of$1,000 and a maximum fine of not more than$25,000

Where a Corporation is convicted of an offence under thisBy-law, the Corporation is liable for the following fines:

On a first conviction, to a minimum fine of $2,500and a maximum fine of not more than $50,000

On any subsequent conviction, to a minimum ?ne of$4,000 and a maximum fine of not more than$100,000

Where a Person is convicted of an offence for contraveningthis By-law, in addition to any other remedy or any penaltyimposed by the By—law, the court in which the convictionhas been entered, and any court of competent jurisdictionthereafter, may issue an order to the Person to rehabilitatethe land or to plant or replant Trees in such a manner anywithin such a period as the court considers appropriate.

CONFLICT WITH OTHER BY-LAWS

Nothing in this By-law shall exempt any person fromcomplying with the requirement of any By-law in force orfrom obtaining any license, permission, permit, authorityor approval required under any By-law or legislation.

ADMINISTRATION

Schedule ‘A’ shall form part of this By-law.

If any section or sections of this By-law or parts thereofare found by any Court to be illegal or beyond the power ofthe Council to enact, such section or sections or partsthereof shall be deemed to be severable and all othersections or parts of this By-law shall be deemed to beseparate and independent there from and continue in fullforce and effect unless and until similarly found illegal.

The short title of this By-law is the “Site Alteration By-law".

EFFECTIVEDATE

This By-law shall come into force and take effect on theday of passing thereof.

Read and ?nally passed this 10”“day of November, 2014.

97/LARRY BRAID, MAYOR

SUSA BOONSTRA,CLERK

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SCHEDULE‘A’

STOP WORK ORDERTOWNSHIP OF GEORGIAN BAY

Under the authority of Section 7 of By-law 2013-XX YOU ARE HEREBYDIRECTED AND ORDERED TO forthwith stop, halt, cease, and desistfrom any and all works associated with the alteration of a site on thoselands comprising of:

MUNICIPAL ADDRESS / LEGALDESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY:

OWNER / INDIVIDUALRESPONSIBLE FOR DESTRUCTION:

DESCRIPTION OF INFRACTION:

DATE OF INSPECTION:

EFFECTIVE ORDER DATE: TO

SIGNATURE OF OFFICER: DATE:

Pursuant to Section 7.6 of By-law 2013—XX, where the person towhom the Order is directed has been served in accordance with thisBy-law is not satisfied with the terms of the Order, the person mayrequest a review by Council by filing a written request by personalservice or certified mail to the Clerk within 30 days after the date ofthe Order.

Township of Georgian Bay99 Lone Pine RoadPort Severn, OntarioLOK 1S0Attn: Susan BoonstraCopy To: By-law Enforcement, Director of Planning, Clerk

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